Mark Solomon, a member of CCDS, opened the panel discussion by presenting the arguments of his recent article "Whither the Socialist Left? Thinking the 'Unthinkable'" Solomon called for an realignment of the left around a new organization and suggested that groups like the organizations participating in the panel could perhaps form its core, clarifying that it was be "an absolutely inclusive project." Emphasizing the important role of the left in making social change, Solomon lamented the weakness of today's left in the face of the immense challenges and needs.

Solomon argued that "the structural crisis of world capitalism, [which] reflects an economic crisis, an environmental crisis, a crisis of work" makes the project of uniting the left a particularly urgent one.

The four organizations represented on the panel have worked together in the course of the past several years in the peace, labor, youth, racial equality and other movements and recently began discussions on how to enhance left unity between the groups and more broadly. That dialogue sparked Solomon's article, which in turn helped generate the inspiration for the panel discussion.

The panel of respondents all agreed that unity is necessary but raised various issues and challenges to a left unity process.

Libero Della Piana of the Communist Party reminded everyone that, "Left unity should always be the outcome of the struggle, not its goal... There have been many attempts over the decades to forge "unity of the left" - a new group or alliance or merger - some more successful than others. Rarely do these attempts on their own represent a major shift in the actual capacity of the left or the balance of political forces."

He continued, "It should go without saying that left unity cannot distract us from the current democratic and class struggles... A bigger, broader movement more engaged in the struggles will create the conditions for a vibrant left of greater size and scope."

Eric Odell speaking for FRSO said, "If different forces coming together fail to engage constructively around the differences, it will find that the unity it has established will be built on sand and will collapse."

"How do we expand?" asked Maria Svart, National Director of DSA. "We need to build a movement that is democratic; it needs to be rooted in American realities; it needs to learn from American movements e.g., civil rights, the feminist movement. We need to take power seriously and not be satisfied being a thoroughly marginalized movement."

She concluded, "We are asking people to invest tremendous time and effort to build a movement for a longer term. We must work with the social forces within capitalism to change the system."

One of the respondents, Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of Jacobin Magazine, argued that the style of much of the organized left to deliberate endlessly and have modest initiatives is a turnoff to many young activists. "We should take some of the spirit of Occupy Wall Street, where there was a fierce sense of urgency," he said. As to the prospects for a new united left, he added, "This time around might be different."

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Yes, an end to endless deliberations and a beginning of actions, even small ones, to fight the tide of oligarchy and the concentration of wealth.

The great paradox facing the Left, whether the latter is in a united front, or as separate reform initiatives, is that the masses are themselves often the enemy of reform. There is also the legacy of 100 years of anti-socialist propaganda resulting in the masses having "knee-jerk" anti-socialism which is triggered by symbols, slogans, buzzwords and buzz names.

Example: the man in the story photograph above has a t-shirt with fist symbol with a slogan "Solidarity Forever" Both symbol and slogan are guaranteed triggers for sentiment that is pre-reflective and automatic. Maybe better would be a symbol of 4 hands joined and a slogan "Working Together"

Posted by Michael Sweney, 06/17/2013 3:00pm (2 years ago)

Will this be expanded to include other left groups like the Socialist Party USA and Solidarity?

Posted by Art, 06/13/2013 5:07pm (2 years ago)

Will this be expanded to include other left groups like the Socialist Party, USA and Solidarity?